Technical Field
The present invention relates to a ceramic filter and, more specifically, to a ceramic filter usable for a long period of time in high temperature conditions.
Description of Related Art
A ceramic filter using a ceramic porous body has high reliability since it is excellent in mechanical strength and durability in comparison with a polymer membrane. In addition, since a ceramic filter has high corrosion resistance, it has little deterioration upon chemical washing with acid, alkali, or the like, and further it is possible to precisely control the average pore size, which determines filtration performance. Since the ceramic filter has such various advantages, it is used for filtrating and removing suspended substances, bacteria, dust, and the like present in a fluid such as liquid and gas in not only the fields of a water treatment and an exhaust gas treatment, but also a wide range of fields including pharmaceutical and food fields. In addition, it is used for pervaporation of separating and refining a liquid mixture of two or more components and for gas separation of separating and refining a gas mixture of two or more components.
As a ceramic filter, there is used, for example, a ceramic filter provided with a columnar porous substrate made of ceramic and having a plurality of cells, which are “through-holes extending from one end face to the other end face”; a separation membrane made of ceramic and disposed on wall surfaces of the cells; and glass seals disposed so as to cover the and faces of the porous substrate; or the like (see, e.g., Patent Document 1). This enables to enhance fluid permeability inside the element while maintaining the filtration performance.